R+Co TROPHY Shine + Texture Spray Makes My Hair Dreams Come True

I’ve waxed poetic about how difficult my hair is many times over on this very site—it’s thin and flat and wimpy and requires at least half a dozen products to look decent. Among those products are a leave-in conditioner (Alterna Moisture Milk); a volumizing mist (Davines Volu Hair Mist); a volumizing mousse (IGK Trust Fund Foam); a heat-protectant spray (GHD Heat Protect); a texturizing powder (Sexy Hair Powder Play); a wave spray (Kristin Ess Wave Spray); and a finishing cream (Ouai Finishing Creme). If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because it is—and before you suggest I rearrange them or cut some or just let it air dry, please know I’ve spent the better part of the last two decades figuring this out, so when I say I’m not very open to change, believe it.

That us, until a few weeks ago, when a new product landed on my desk, as they’re wont to do: I often take new releases home to test them for my beauty editor Chloe since we have very different hair types, but I usually report back with mixed reviews. This time, it was R+Co’s TROPHY Shine and Texture Spray on the chopping block, which is an oxymoron if I’d ever heard one. The release promised both volume and a glossy shine thanks to a mix of Fuller’s Earth, a type of clay, sea kale, and sweet almond oil, but it just sounded like a recipe for sticky, greasy strands.

Before I could even take it home, it had to pass the desk test: I flipped my head over, spritzed it on my already-dry-but-als0-now-flat hair, zhoosh’d it around, and looked in the mirror. I looked great. Suddenly, I had that mix of beachy and sexy and unfussy hair that you magazines tell you is possible my just falling asleep with your wet hair in braids (lol no) and it somehow didn’t look crusty, dry, or fried—or and all the other adjectives that come with daily heat styling. Chloe, ever the beauty skeptic, caught me looking in the mirror for the sixth time in as many minutes and assured me it’d probably look like crap in an hour.

The day was just about over and I had to head to the gym, and in my tote bag went the spray. The next morning, I decided to forego my entire hair routine in favor of TROPHY—I towel-dried my hair, spritzed it on after my heat-protectant spray, then blowdried. Once it was mostly dry, I spritzed it again, scrunching my hair to force beach-vibes onto it. I waited for the crunchy feeling that usually comes along with texture sprays, but it never came. Then, I waited for the weighed-down feeling that usually comes with shine sprays. Again, nothing; with the exception of some limpness near the crown of my head, I looked great. Like, really great. So great, in fact, that I needed to photograph the evidence even though I was already late for work:

See? My hair is at once beachy, shiny, and touchable—no crunchiness or greasiness in sight. I still needed to apply some Powder Play to my crown—which, to be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever quit—but beyond that, I think I’m just about able to pare down my seven-step routine, especially on mornings when time is short.